Beside the house, the cherry’s flowering, Above the trees the May bugs hum, The ploughmen from the furrows come, The girls all wander homeward, singing, And mothers wait the meal for them. Beside the house, a family supper, Above, the evening star appears, The daughter serves the dishes here; I t’s useless to advise her, mother. The nightingale won’t let her hear. Beside the house, the mother lulls The little children for the night, Then she, too, settles a t their side. And all is s till. . . Only the girls And nightingales disturb the quiet.
This illustration was a personal project made in 2021.
I wanted to recreate the imaginary fantasy bubble I lived in as a child. Thus the world created here includes all types of fairytale and cartoons characters/scenes, Slavic mythology and children books creatures – all the magic that surrounded me growing up in a post-soviet Ukrainian province of 90s.
It is a blend of inspirations coming from local folktales, as well as internationally known fairytales, soviet cartoons and Slavic myths.
Below I’ll list all the references, let’s see if you can find all 36! 🙂
The list:
1. A dragon guarding his treasures
2. Witches having shabash on the Lysa Hora (Barren mount)
3. Witches riding brooms on the way to the shabash
4. A dragon attacking the castle
5. Rapunzel in the tower
6. Cinderella on her way to the ball
7. Cinderella’s shoe
8. Mermaids from Slavic myths
9. Mavkas (tree spirits) from Slavic myths
10. Princess frog
11. Red riding hood
12. Will-o’-the-wisp (ghost lights from myths)
13. Thumbelina
14. Queens’ roses from Alice in the Wonderland
15. Wild rose from Sleeping Beauty
16. Kotyhoroshko (a pea-sized superhero from Ukrainian folktale)
17. Flower from Beauty and the beast
18. Ugly duckling
19. Baba Yaga
20. Little straw bull (Ukrainian folktale)
21. The glove (Ukrainian folktale)
22. The fisherman and the magic goldfish
23. The duck (which laid and egg with the world, Slavic mythology)
24. The house with chicken legs
25. Ivasyk-Telesyk (a boy-fisherman from Ukrainian folktale)
26. Baron Munchausen
27. Puss in boots
28. The Enormous Turnip (folktale)
29. Fairy Tinker Bell
30. Kossak Mamay (Ukrainian legend)
31. Kolobok (running round bread from Ukrainian folktale)
32. Leshy (Old father of forest, Slavic mythology)
33. Old wise raven (Soviet cartoons)
34. A house made of gingerbread, cake and candy
35. The death of Koschei (god of death, folktale, his death is in the needle, hidden in the egg, hidden in the duck, hidden in the rabbit, hidden in the box, hidden on the tree)
36. The beast stealing the moon (Gogol’s fairytale About Ukrainian village during Christmas Eve)
Twenty years ago I had a habit of diving into the imaginary worlds whenever I did not like something about the real one.
When it was boring, when atmosphere was not so good or when I was upset or disappointed – I just was escaping into that other world. It was fun.
From the outside I looked quite absent-minded during those trips into imaginary universe. I know it from the classmates – they used to name it my Astral.
Over time I lost this habit. A lot was going on as I was adapting to new life abroad, taking on international internships and learning to be adult. No time to float into alternative worlds.
As I started shifting back to creative path 6 years ago, one of the biggest challenges was actually to find that Door to the world of imagination. It took years. I learnt that skill anew, but it did not become as strong of a habit as it once was. It was a tool.
Until last month. When my home country got invaded and as I continued to observe the horrible reality of war at my doorstep, I once again took that Door for what it once was. Not the entry into the world of imagination, but the escape from the real world.
I have not thought I would get to experience this in my life.
The country which I love so dearly is on fire.
The past week was the longest in my life. It is heartbreaking.
The support of the World during this week was what helped to get through it. And it reminds me that despite of such horrible things like War humanity has also a lot of good things to offer.
Despite strong wind I had to spend a lot of time outside yesterday. The weather in Europe has been crazy in the past weeks and seems it will remain this way for a while.
This illustration I drew around my Birthday time in 2022. A friend baked me Red Velvet cupcakes for the birthday a year earlier. Recently I started cutting on sweets and sugar as a New Year’s resolution, so the one eating way too much on my behalf is this poor little fairy.
